President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape today to assess the response by government to the recent floods that wreaked havoc in the province resulting in the loss of lives and destruction of public infrastructure and private property. Officials from the National Disaster Management Centre have been deployed to the affected areas and national, provincial and local departments and agencies are attending to challenges faced by communities.

HARD AT WORK 

Ramaphosa said national and provincial authorities, as well as civic organisations, are working tirelessly to assist the affected communities with much-needed aid, immediate psychosocial support and humanitarian relief. "This relief is the first step on the demanding journey of rebuilding lives, homes, businesses, and public infrastructure after events of this nature. Government will do its best to ensure that the recovery process meets the needs of residents and enables a renewal of the affected areas," Ramaphosa said.

"WE NEED MONEY"

Meanwhile, The Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality said earlier that it will request R155 million from the national treasury in order to assist more than 3000 displaced people and to repair damaged infrastructure following the floods. The executive mayor ,Gary Van Niekerk, said they've identified land where they can build houses for the victims. "We are now going to use that money with the blessing of Cogta and Human Settlements Ministers for this disaster and what we need to get now is pockets of land that we have already identified. The land is some municipal land, public works land. We are going to fast-track processes to ensure that all people are moved out of these halls."